It's A 'wheel' Bargain!

[Titch LS]

I've always admired the look of the Lexus steering wheels that feature the wood rim/half leather finish. Well, now I've got one! I fitted the wheel this evening (I couldn't wait). It looks great. I got it from an on- line breakers for £48. Yes, forty-eight quid. I couldn't even find one on eBay that fitted my mk.4, the only ones available were from the U.S., where they're asking silly money for them. No more driving around with a tatty looking all leather steering wheel, instead, I have a classier looking cabin now that my new (to me) wooden steering wheel has been fitted. Big grin.

[Spacewagon52]

Are they easy to fit? Any issues with the airbag? I love the wooden ones!

[oldhazey]

Indeed i have been looking for some time for a half wood/leather wheel for my mk3 but unsure if a mk4 one will fit ?

Great bargain ya got there,well done :-)

[plexus914]

Yes, MK4 will fit MK3. If you want to make the MK3 airbag fit on MK4 steering wheel......it needs to be modified:

http://aus-vip.com/topic/2719-how-to-fitting-a-98-00-wood-steering-wheel-onto-a-95-97-ls400/

[cruisermark]

Yes a big fan of them myself - i specifically looked out for a mark 4 with the wood pack.

obviously with the 430 it comes as standard

I did however had to alter my driving style a bit - with the normal wheel you can do "one handed" full locks - with a wooden steering you cant - did find it a tad awkward at first but used to it now after 5 years of wood steering driving.

[Titch LS]

To answer a few questions,-- yes, the wheel was fairly easy to fit; but firstly I looked up numerous posts on the U.S forum (which included some photo's) -- by googling 'LS400 wood and half-leather steering wheel'. I also clicked on 'images' and magnified the pictures-- it helped. There's some handy 'how to' advice on there. The airbags from a Mk.4 DON'T fit on a Mk.3 wheel. The central frame of the mk3 wheel is a different shape and the horn/cruise connections are different. You would probably have to buy a complete mk4 wheel including the airbag in order to be sure of a working horn and cruise control. BUT, I'm pretty sure that you could just buy a wood/leather wheel from a scrapped 95-96 model and your existing mk3 airbag would fit. On-line breakers are definitely the best bet, there's not much on UK eBay. One tip I found on the forum was that when you have the old wheel removed, don't let the 'clock spring' underneath move out of position, otherwise you will have to reset it. The 19mm nut is torqued down to 35 Nm. You won't need a 'puller' either, just yank very hard and it will release from the splines, but remember to undo the white top connector first before you do that. Hope this helps a bit and good hunting.

[r3dd3v1l]

gotta get pics up pal, everyone is thinking it haha

[Titch LS]

I've just tried uploading some photo's but computer says 'No'. The file is too big apparently. The Instructions that 'helped' were too complicated for me to be bothered with, sorry. It comes from being technophobic and in advanced middle age.

[oldhazey]

Brians Bargain half wood wheel